Colston's Primary School

News: News Stories

OFSTED praises childrens' personal development.

Colston's was inspected by OFSTED in December, and the report has now been it published. It states that:

"Colston's Primary is a satisfactory school with some good features, particularly in pastoral care. The vision of the headteacher in promoting an inclusive school permeates throughout. All pupils are welcomed warmly into the supportive school environment. There are positive relationships with parents and others in the local community. There are good links with outside agencies who contribute to meeting the needs of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities".

"(children).. make sound progress throughout the school, leaving Year 6 with good literacy and satisfactory numeracy skills. Overall, their standards are good, making an effective contribution to their economic well-being. The leadership and management have a good knowledge of the school's strengths and weaknesses that has come about through an accurate self-evaluation. Since the last inspection they have addressed the needs of the more able pupils and been successful in raising attendance and are now exploring and employing strategies to improve provision for underachieving pupils, particularly in mathematics. Currently, the satisfactory teaching ensures that pupils make appropriate progress although more needs to be done to improve their knowledge and skills in mathematics. This includes making sure that the needs of all pupils are consistently being met in all classes so that they can make good progress in relation to their abilities.

Joint Chair of Governors, Simon Read, commented to parents that "We were asked by the inspectors what we thought was special about Colston's. We said the diversity of the school is a real strength and that children are safe, happy, respect each other and thrive. The inspecors judged that the personal development and well-being of the children is good and their spiritual, moral, social and cultrural development is outstanding. As the report says; "pupils enjoy coming to school..." Or as one inspector said to us; "...the playground is an example of the way the world should be..." 

He added "Nothing in the judgement is surprising. We have been evaluating the school over the last year with our new school improvement officer. The inspection report has confirmed that judgement particularly with regard to (a) standards in numeracy and (b) the progress of under-achieving pupils between the end of Key Stage One and the end of Key Stage Two. These are areas of concern that we are currently addressing"

"Standards have mostly improved since the last inspection - particularly in areas like the curriculum and attendance. The school results in literacy continue to be good, close to outstanding and numeracy skills are satisfactory so that overall standards are good."

The full OFSTED report and Simon's full comments can be read in the OFSTED Report section of the site.

Schools' Minister Jim Knight MP visits Colston's

The man responsible for all of Britain's schools visited Colston's recently to see for himself what is happening at the school.

He listened to a storytelling class in Reception, and saw a Phonics lesson in Year 1, before meeting with Headteacher Mr. Gavaghan and Joint Chairs of Governors Paul Bowtell and Simon Read.

Paul Bowtell commented that "Jim Knight's visit was a great opportunity for us to show him the tremendous achievements of our pupils and staff. We are pleased that he chose to come to Colston's having heard that our diverse community was a real strength of the school. We were able to discuss with him our concerns regarding the funding formula used for schools in Bristol, and the narrowness of the criteria used by Ofsted in its evaluations. We are grateful for his time and hope that he can use our input to good effect in his role as Schools' Minister".

Jim Knight's principal policy areas include raising school standards including national tests, the national curriculum, school funding and capital including Building Schools for the Future, and school workforce issues.

Before entering Parliament, he managed a publishing company, based in the West Country, for 10 years. Prior to that, he managed arts venues and worked for a small scale travelling theatre company. He is married with two children.

 

Jim Knight MP with Mr. John Gavaghan and Mr. Simon Read.

 

Have you seen the mosaic in the playground?

Last year the whole school community took part in learning about the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, and commemorated the event with some fantastic dancing and, during Art Week, by further developing its "One World" theme.

We now have a lasting, permanent memory of this in the Wall Mosaic outside the Year 5 and 6 classrooms in the Key Stage 2 playground. This amazing work of art tells the story of the journey of the slave ship Mousango.

It is well worth a close up look, as the photographs here cannot do it justice. Congratulations and thank you to all involved!


 

Pirate ship docks in Colston's playground!

The Key Stage 1 playground has a fantastic new addition this year - a huge wooden pirate ship, called the Jomanda, for children to play on.

Following the storm damage of January 2007 and the subsequent rebuilding of the railings and wall, the school consulted the children about what they would like to see provided in the front area of the playground. The idea of a Pirate Ship proved to be very popular, and over the summer holidays it sailed from a far off shipbuilders to dock at Colston's.

You can see pictures below from the official opening, where the naming ceremony was performed by a scary looking pirate called Cabin NoParrot.

Parents are kindly requested not to allow their children to play on the ship before or after school, as the school cannot be responsible for ensuring their safety at these times.


 

Colston's wins award for Eco-Schools work

The school is proud to announce its Eco-Schools Bronze Award for its work towards reducing litter and increasing recycling rates.

The Eco-Schools project has been running at Colston's since May 2007 - it introduces the concepts of sustainability into our everyday activities in school, aiming to help children become more effective citizens by encouraging them to take responsibility for the future of their own environment. The school has just been recognised for its early work in this area by gaining a Bronze Award.
 
The scheme looks at nine key areas of school activity:

  • Litter
  • Energy Conservation
  • Waste & Recycling
  • Water
  • School Grounds
  • Biodiversity
  • Transport
  • Healthy Living
  • Global Perspective

Pupil involvement is a key part of the Eco-Schools programme, and our co-ordinating group has eight children from across Key Stage 2 leading the monitoring, action planning and decision-making, under the co-ordination of Miss Davies, Year 1 teacher.

How the Bronze Award was won

The children held an Environmental Review of the school, asking 21 questions such as:

  • Are the lights left on in classrooms when people aren't in them?
  • Does the school recycle its paper from classrooms and offices?
  • Is there a problem with cars outside school before school and at home time?
  • Are there enough bins inside and outside, in the school grounds?

Each Key Stage 2 class was asked to give their responses and the results were put together by the co-ordinating group. From the nine areas, the children decided to prioritise Litter, Waste & Recycling, and Transport for action.

Work is ongoing, but Litter Rotas have recommenced using equipment bought by the PTAF, and new litter bins are being sourced. The Recycling Consortium has been in school to hold assemblies and workshops with all year groups with the message "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" and black bins are now in every classroom to collect waste paper for recycling.

The children voiced their real concerns about the dangerous parking by parents dropping off or collecting pupils before and after school; they think that by ignoring double yellow lines and zig-zags you are threatening their lives. We are discussing how to get through to persistent offenders with the children's help.

We've made a good start to our Eco-Schools project, and our Bronze award reflects this. Work continues towards the next stage, a Silver Award and ultimately a coveted Green Flag.

Keep up to date with the latest developments by visiting the Eco-Schools page of the website, in the Learning at Colston's section.